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Way of the Monkey King: Calling all Wukong players

First of all I would like to thank you for your post. You took the time to sit down and educate another fellow Wukong player. I agree with most of your post and I already do most of these things like sneaking up on the carry in dmg build to force flash on them or outright kill them.

A few questions. One you mentioned some strong counters like Lee Sin and Malphite which in theory I would dread very much, however you didn't list any champions that Wukong himself counters, just champions that you shouldnt bring Wukong in to fight. Also on the counter list I imagine Darius is another PITA because I hear (havent confirmed), that his passive reveals Wukong when hes doing his Decoy, so Wukong would have to win the fight or Darius will just wait for you to Decoy, grab the true Wukong, then beat you down till nuke.

Also while you mention Dorans into Brut into Phage, do you agree that if you are somehow losing lane or you just get counter picked somehow, that Wriggles would then become something that he should purchase or stick to Dorans then bulk up on resistances and HP?

Thank you for your time and I hope that we can discuss further about Wukong top lane.

I am glad if you find my opinions on Wukong helpful, judging from my experiences. Wukong is currently a very good pick in many comps mostly because how his ultimate can turn the tide of a team fight, I don't think there are many more top laners who shares that powerful team fight presence (vlad, rumble probably) . But in the current meta, Wukong is not a counter pick champion. He does not have a clear counter to any champion unlike Vlad, Teemo or Malphite pick, but at the same time he can be countered. That's why you don't see him used much in major tournaments. This proves he is on the weaker side of balance no matter what people say. But perhaps that can also be his strength how he can still hold his own if he is not being countered. Most of the time, it comes down to player's knowledge and skills upon the matchup. Knowing when to trade and when to use your W or successfully bait certain attacks, and maintain pressure is the key to win with Wukong. And that only works with experiences.

So the answer is, you pick Wukong not because he can counter someone, but because he is fun, cool, dat laugh & taunt, that burst and most importantly his team fight presence is unmatched (if build correctly).

I've met a lot of Darius lately because how he can roflstomp soloQ and how easy it is to play. A good Darius will always build defensive items almost exclusively except FM while still dealing massive damage with his combo. If you are against Darius, he has the same problem with Morde. He will push when he harass, but a good Darius will not use his Q unless he is certain he can hit you with it (like after a successful hook). My advice is the same as fighting against Riven. Bait his combos. Once he misses his Q on you... then that's the perfect opportunity to trade as soon as he misses that. And a lot of the times you can anticipate his hook judging how he's moving in close and you can decoy away and see if you can bait his combo then engage right after. Never engage when he has his full combo available. His burst after 6 is ridiculous with ignite so never underestimate that. But at the same time, you have to punish him whenever he made a silly mistake like misses a Q or a combo. It's just a matchup depending on who's making more mistake. He is one of the few champions on top that falls off extremely hard late game. So if you had an even lane against him in CS... you are winning. But most of the time, I can win the lane if I play carefully and baited abilities successfully.

I do philo stone to Phage. That gets you through the early game pretty well. His level 2 burst is craaazy, so you can generally drive your opponents out of the lane about when you need to B for philo. Phage gives you early damage and tankyness, and you're quite likely to proc the slow on the 3 second attack speed increase after you E onto someone.

Boots (ninja tabi usually), Wriggle's, Brutalizer, Phage and Hexdrinker is a really good start for Wukong. After I get those I try to finish the phage into either frozen mallet or trinityforce. Then get a gaurdian angel or last whisper.

My first post on threads, but I thought I'd input some of what I think...

I first played Wukong during the second week I started playing LoL. I did really well with him. But when I got around to buying him, it just didn't feel the same. I just couldn't win anymore and it was all going horribly wrong. I abandoned him for a while, but one day came back. I started to experiment with different builds/masteries. Trying to find the right one for me. It took me a while; but I got there eventually.

I tend to go for defensive masteries, mainly because its saved me so many times. Plus it helps out early game too. For spells I go for:

Yes its a very aggressive build, but it works for me. The key is not to push for kills to hard, just harrass and farm loads. Last hitting can be tough with Wuk without the attack speed items.I find him versatile and he'll do well top or bot. But remember he is also a good team player as well. Your ult can save a teamate's life

Ok, my second build I came up with recently. I was playing with some friends, and one of them is REALLY GOOD. He's been playing this since the Beta XD so he helped me out loads with this. They wanted me to build tanky, and I kind of thought hmm... need to come up with something. So here's tanky build.

I haven't used the above as much, but I do when I need to. It's a good tanky build, and again it works for me.

Also early game I tend to start with Q, but at times I do alternate. Again its situational, but I mostly start with Q because its super OP on squish champs at the start. Here's a good trick to use, when fighting an enemy champion you can use your decoy. This is because the other guy wont realize he's hitting a decoy and you're really just hitting him whilst invisible (so you keep some health in the process). And also remember that Wukong's ult isn't just for killing. It's one of those Ults with multiple uses. You can use it to run away/save a teamate/in a team fight/to chase/get an assist (when Wukong, you need to accept you will wind up with alot of assists.) When attacking turrets use your E on minions (because you get an attack speed bonus afterwards) and don't be afraid to use your Q on turrets as well. Teleport is very handy as well, because that way you can join teamfights when you're needed. (PS: don't spam decoy, it has an obnoxious cooldown time)

I'm not saying its the best build there is, I remember getting beaten bad on two occasions by level 30s(they did have 900 wins) but that was with the build I usually go with. Remember there never is the right build for a champion, its the right build for YOU and how you do things. All I can say with Wukong is, he isn't as easy as people think. You really need to be smart with him. You need to be a team player, because thats where he shines most for me.

Watch out for Malphite too, a good Malphite is VERY difficult to beat with Wukong. Same with a fed Ammumu. Oh and Lee Sin is quite annoying too. But I do want to say I survived a Karthus Ult with low health by using decoy XD (you have to time it right). Oh and decoy's wont work on turrets if it targets you.

I think some people here are forgetting the 30% armor reduction on his Q. Leading in with E can be very tempting because of the surprise element but its not the best for burst. Not always ideal tho to lead with Q because its much more obvious. But when you have an option, landing your Q then E + auto attacks ideally has the best damage output

Another thing, because of this reduction from his Q, building a LW on wukong isnt ideal.
Reduction comes before penetration in the calculations for armor pen. so if a target has 100 armor and you Q them. they are down to 70 armor. Then comes flat pen. i play him with flat armor pen marks and quints which give about 25 armor pen. if you add a brut to this your looking at 40 flat penetration. so they are down to 70 after your Q. then after the flat penetration they are down to 30. Last in the calculations comes % penetration. so with a LW your looking at 40% of 30 armor which is a small amount.

So stacking straight armor pen is more effective then a LW. However, the reduction from his Q only last 3 secs which means it wont last his whole combo + ult. But you still have 40 Flat penetration during your ult which is more effective to carries anyway because they dont stack armour (and thats who you should be focusing whether you build tanky or not). If the game goes into super Late game i would still get a LW especially if the enemy team is stacking armor because you or your ADC is fed .

Ps.I prefer FM over warmogs:
- i find him tanky enough without warmogs
- FM works well especially when you lead with Q. Remember His Q is an enhanced aa which will trigger the proc (aswell as life steal).

Note: after the next path the order will change. % penetration will come BEFORE flat penetration. which is much more effective when you look at the numbers.